Research Article

iMedPub Journals ARCHIVES OF MEDICINE 2016

http://www.imedpub.com/ Vol.8 No.5:6
ISSN 1989-5216
DOI: 10.21767/1989-5216.1000164

The Prevalence of Underweight, Overweight, Obesity and the Influence of

Exercise and Diet on Body Weight among Medical Students
Shalom Kayafa Katuka1, Olajumoke C Faleti1, Srinivas Medavarapu2*, Ayooluwa Ogungbite1,
Chidozie Joseph Ugokwe1, Imo Raguel Umoffia1 and Aneela Sangem3
1Medical students, Basic Medical Sciences, All Saints University school of Medicine, Roseau, Dominica
2Assistant Professor, All Saints University school of Medicine, Roseau, Dominica
3Extern at Pediatrics 2000, 3332 Broadway, New York, NY 10031, USA
*Corresponding author: Srinivas Medavarapu, Assistant Professor,All Saints University School of Medicine, Roseau, Dominica, Tel:
18483915130; E-mail: [email protected]
Received date: Sep 19, 2016; Accepted date: Sep 26, 2016; Published date: Sep 30, 2016
Copyright: © 2016 Katuka SK, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Katuka SK, Faleti OC, Medavarapu S, et al. The Prevalence of Underweight, Overweight, Obesity and the Influence of Exercise and Diet
on Body Weight among Medical Students. Arch Med. 2016, 8:5

the high prevalence of overweight and obesity among the

student.
Abstract
Title: A cross sectional study to determine the prevalence Keywords: BMI (Body mass index); Exercise; Diet;
of various weight groups among medical students and to Overweight and obesity; All Saints University School of
correlate the effects of exercise and diets on the Medicine; Coronary heart disease; Type 2 diabetes
prevalence of various weight groups.

Background: Weight disorders can have an effect on the Introduction

health status or general well-being of a person. Various
health problems have been linked with weight disorders. Weight disorders have been a subject of concern to most
Those who are underweight have an increased risk of health practitioners over the years as this can affect the overall
anaemia, heart irregularities or possible disorders of wellbeing of a person. Various fluctuations in the weight of
malnutrition, whereas those who are overweight or obese
individuals have known to occur due to an imbalance between
have an increased risk of coronary heart disease or type 2
diabetes. energy input and energy output or due to various metabolic
disorders. Sedentary lifestyles and excess calorie intake
Methods and Findings: A descriptive cross sectional contribute to overweight and obesity, and the period between
design was used. The study was conducted at the adolescence and early adulthood is accompanied by lifestyle
Simulation lab of All Saints University School of medicine, changes that predispose young adults to become less
Dominica. A total number of 100 students (subjects) from physically active [1]. The 1995 College Health Risk Behavior
PM1 to MD5 were randomly selected to participate in the Survey [2] indicates that dietary and activity patterns of many
study within the age range of 15-29. Standard procedures
college students predispose them to future health problems.
were used to determine the height and weight and the
BMI was calculated from the results of the measurements Weight disorders are responsible for a number of health
of weight (kg) and height (m) (kg/m2). Questionnaires problems some of which include; for underweight: increased
were also distributed to get additional information about
risk of anemia [3], osteoporosis [4], ‘in women it can lead to
their exercise frequency and major diet content. The
result of the study shows a high prevalence of normal amenorrhea [5], and for overweight or obesity: type II
weight individuals among the students which was diabetes [6], coronary heart disease [7], high blood pressure
followed by the overweight individuals. It also showed (hypertension) [8], High cholesterol level (dyslipidemia) [9].
that a large percentage of the students more than average Some causes of being underweight could be as a result of loss
do not engage in any form of exercise and this can lead to of appetite, difficulty chewing or reduced appetite. In other
high body weight prevalence. The consumption of cases especially in the case of malnutrition it is considered a
carbohydrate diet was also high among the students
contributing to the high prevalence of high body weight health problem because it can lead to some health diseases
groups among the student. mentioned above. Being overweight and obesity are both
defined as the abnormal pile of fat that can weaken the health
Conclusion: The effects of lack of exercise coupled with of an individual. This occurs when the energy ingested exceed
high carbohydrates diet was established as contributing to the energy expenditure over a prolonged period of time.

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 ARCHIVES OF MEDICINE 2016
ISSN 1989-5216 Vol.8 No.5:6

The prevalence of obesity worldwide has doubled between the study. After gathering the students to commence the
1980 and 2014. In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults aged 18 research, the research questionnaire was distributed to each
yrs and above were overweight. Of this number over 600 of the participants to obtain information about their regular
million were obese. Overall, about 13% of the world’s adult diet and exercise level before their body mass index (BMI) was
population (11% of men and 15% of women) was obese in measured.
2014. In 2014, 39% of adults aged 18 years and over (38% of
The test was carried out in the simulation lab of All Saints
men and 40% of women) were overweight (WHO, ‘World
University School of Medicine. The height (m) and weight (kg)
Health Organization’) [10]. The weight of a person can have an
of all the study participants where measured using the
overall effect on the various aspects of the life of each
different instruments (for height measurement a stadiometer
individual. The importance of body weight has been seen in
was used and for weight measurement a weighing scale was
the cognitive performance of children in the research done by
used) to determine the body mass index of each participant.
Hjorth et al. [11], it was found that normal weight children had
After the measurements, the results of the measurements are
higher cognitive performance compared to overweight/obese
then calculated using this formula (kg/m2) to calculate the BMI
as well as underweight children, independent of multiple
of the participants. BMI lesser than or equal to 18.6 kg/m2 is
lifestyle indicators. The effect of body weight on emotion was
considered underweight, BMI between (18.7 kg/m2-24.9
studied by Kohlmann and Weidner [12] and they reported that
kg/m2) is considered normal weight BMI between (25 kg/
increased body weight was also related to anger traits and an
m2-29.9 kg/m2) is considered as overweight and BMI greater
anger-out expression style, but only among men.
than or equal to 30 kg/m2 is considered obesity [13].
The most preferred and widely used method to determine
This research was done conveniently within a period of
underweight, normal weight, overweight and obesity in a
three weeks, mobilization and collection of materials was done
person is by calculating the body mass index (BMI) of the
in the first week, the data were collected within the second
individual.
week and the data were analyzed using STATA within the third
week.
Materials and Methods
A cross-sectional study was carried out amongst the Results
students of All Saints University School of Medicine
A total of 100 students participated in the study. 49 were
(Commonwealth of Dominica). A total number of a hundred
between the ages of 15-19, 40 were between 20 and 24 and
students willingly participated in the study in which an average
11 were between 25% and 29.7% were found to be
of 12 students from each class (PM1-MD5).
underweight, 52% were normal weight, 28% were overweight
Necessary permission was acquired from the school and 13% were obese (Table 1).
management and also from the students who participated in

Table 1 Age groups in relation to BMI, exercise and food content.

Age group Body Mass Index Exercise Food Total Number

15-19 UW-6.12% Yes-34.69% Carbohydrate-79.59% 49

NW-63.27% No- 65.31% Protein- 20.41%

OW-22.45%

OB-8.16%

20-24 UW-10% Yes-47.50% Carbohydrate-72.5% 40

NW-42.5% No- 52.50% Protein-27.5%

OW-27.5%

OB-20%

25-29 UW-0% Yes-90.91% Carbohydrate-72.73% 11

NW-36.36% No-9.09% Protein-27.27%

OW-54.55%

OB-9.09%

100

UW: Underweight, OW: Overweight, NW: Normal Weight, OB: Obese

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Fat was not indicated as the major content of the diet of any Whereas of those who have a carbohydrate diet, a higher
of the participants. 76% indicated carbohydrate as their major percentage 56.58% do not exercise, compared to 45.83% of
diet content and 24% chose protein. 46% admitted that they those who take a protein diet.
exercise and 54% admitted that they do not exercise. The
majority of students across all age groups picked carbohydrate
as their major food content and the remaining indicated
Discussion
protein as their major food content (Table 2). Results of the study showed that among the students the
normal weight (52%) has the highest prevalence followed by
Table 2 BMI (Body mass index) in relation to food content. the overweight (28%) with the underweight (7%) being the
lowest; this clearly shows a tendency towards a high weight
BMI Carbohydrate Protein Total disorder among medical students rather than towards the low
Underweig 3 (42.86%) 4 (57.14%) 7 weight disorders. The results from this research also correlate
ht with two main researches carried out in two medical schools in
Normal 41 (78.55%) 11 52
India. The first research carried out in Medinipur, India where
weight (21.15%) total prevalence of obesity was 3.4%, overweight was 17.5%
and normal weight with the underweight was about 79% [14],
Overweight 22 (78.57%) 6 (21.43%) 28
the second research was done in Delhi, India also reported a
Obese 10 (76.92%) 3 (23.08%) 13 prevalence of overweight with 11.7% and 2% obesity among
Total 76 24 100
the medical students [15].
The research result also showed that 46% of the students
For those who were underweight, 57% indicated a protein engaged in any form of exercise while 54% of the total
diet, compared to roughly 20% in the other weight ranges. The students do not engage in any form of exercise. Therefore this
major food content for those who are normal weight, research has shown that lack of exercise among medical
overweight and obese was carbohydrate at more than 75%. student can lead to a high percentage of high body weight
Interestingly, for those who were underweight and normal disorders. Previous work done by Stiegler et al. [16] showed
weight more than 57% indicated that they do not exercise that lack of exercise can cause an increase in body weight and
(Table 3). For those who were overweight and obese those the research work also done by Cris et al. [17] confirmed that
who did not exercise were slightly less at 42.86% and 53.85% higher amount of activity is necessary for the maintenance of
respectively, and those who exercised were slightly more at body weight.
57.14% and 46.15% respectively (Table 4).
The research results showed that about 76% of the medical
Table 3 BMI (Body mass index) in relation to exercise. students are on diet that has carbohydrate as the main
component while only 24% are on diet that has protein as the
BMI Exercise Do not Total
major component. When these diets were compared within
Exercise the various body weight groups, only the underweight group
has a diet with higher amount of protein compared to
Underweight 3 (42.86%) 4 (57.14%) 7
carbohydrate. This research therefore also confirms that a diet
Normal weight 21 (40.38%) 31 (59.62%) 52 that contains a considerably high amount of carbohydrates is
Overweight 16 (57.14%) 12 (42.86%) 28
necessary for the maintenance of body weight. Previous
researches also done has shown that high intake of
Obese 6 (46.15%) 7 (53.85%) 13 carbohydrates can lead to increase in body weight if this is not
Total 46 54 100 balance with high level of energy expenditure [18]. The
research also conducted by Gaesser [19] also confirmed that
Table 4 Food content in relation to exercise. the prevalence of overweight and obesity is due to high
carbohydrate intake.
Food Exercise Do not Total The study sample was relatively small and a larger sample
Exercise
would have been more representative of the diet and exercise
Carbohydrate 43 (43.42%) 43 (56.58%) 76 habits of students as well as their respective body mass
Protein 13 (54.17%) 11 (45.83%) 24
indexes. The focus of our research was narrowed to food
content and exercise and perhaps limited the study. A broader
Total 46 54 100 focus integrating other factors that could affect weight and
general wellbeing would help improve the study.
In relating food content and exercise habit, a higher
percentage of students who have a protein diet also exercise
(54.17%) compared to 43.42% of those who consume
Recommendation and Conclusion
carbohydrate mainly. In this study we concluded that the type of diet and exercise
play a significant role on the prevalence of various weight
groups among medical students. Most students who do not

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 ARCHIVES OF MEDICINE 2016
ISSN 1989-5216 Vol.8 No.5:6

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